Local news in Mass. suffers another blow, with Gannett taking 19 papers out of print

In at least 26 communities, sidewalks soon will no longer be graced by the weekly local newspaper on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

That's because newspaper chain Gannett will stop printing at least 19 weekly newspapers in Eastern Massachusetts after the first week of May. They'll go all digital.

Gannett is also merging nine other weeklies into four. They say they have to in order to maintain the "sustainable future of local news." Others argue it's a further hollowing out of community journalism in Massachusetts and across the country.

We discuss with Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern and blogger at Media Nation. We also hear from Barbara Roessner, the editor of the New Bedford Light, a non-profit digital newsroom.